Bringing on a whole group of new hires at once? Needing to send tasks to your whole team? We can help you get them all into your Onboarding account in one go, instead of adding them one by one.
Is Bulk Import Right for You?
- Adding one person, or just a few? Use our standard Adding a New User to Your Onboarding Account process — it's the fastest way to get a small number of people added.
- Adding a larger group at once — a new hire wave, a PEO roster, or a migration from another system? That's what Bulk User Import is for.
Bulk User Import is offered as a complimentary Support service for your first batch. Because it's built for larger groups, we ask that individual or small additions continue through the standard one-by-one process above — that keeps quick additions quick, and keeps this service available when you really need it.
How It Works
- Contact Support to request a Bulk User Import. Let us know roughly how many users you're adding.
- We'll send you a blank CSV template to fill out with your team's information.
- Fill in the template using the formatting guidelines below.
- Send us your completed file securely. We take data security seriously, so we handle these files a couple of ways:
- We can send you a secure Dropbox upload link, or
- You can send your file to us using your own secure/encrypted method.
- Either way, let us know it's coming. We don't open secure or unexpected file transfers unless we're expecting them, so a heads-up in your ticket keeps things moving.
- We review your file. If anything's missing or doesn't match our formatting requirements, we'll flag it and work with you to get it resolved. We won't run your import until every issue is cleared up — this saves everyone from partial imports or cleanup after the fact.
- We complete your import within 48 hours of receiving your finalized, issue-free file.
CSV Formatting Guidelines
| Column Header | What It's For |
|---|---|
legal_first_name | (required) New user's legal first name |
last_name | (required) New user's last name |
personal_email | (required) Personal email — this is where their account invite goes |
job_title | (required) |
start_date | (required) Format: YYYY-MM-DD |
work_email | Optional |
phone | Optional |
employee_identifier | Optional — your internal employee ID, if you use one |
role | employee, admin, or manager (defaults to employee) |
employment_type | full_time, part_time, contractor, seasonal, unpaid, co_op, or intern |
compensation_type | hourly or salary |
pay_period | hourly, weekly, bi_weekly, bi_monthly, monthly, or yearly |
salary_amount | Should go along with your compensation_type |
supervisor | If this person has a supervisor also being added in this batch, please list their supervisor's name or email so we can sequence the import correctly (see note below) |
Note on supervisors: If you're importing managers and their direct reports together, let us know the reporting structure — we'll import supervisors first so the system can correctly link their teams.
A Few Things Worth Knowing
- Admins get their invite email immediately once added.
- Employees won't get an invite until their first task is assigned in their onboarding workflow — so don't worry if a new hire doesn't get an email right away. That's expected, not a sign something went wrong.
- We'll flag any rows we can't process due to missing or unusable info — you'll always have a chance to fix these before anything goes live.
FAQ
Q: How long does this take?
A: Once we receive your CSV, our team will review it within two business days and follow up with any questions or formatting issues found. If edits are needed, you'll have the chance to make those corrections and send back a finalized CSV for review. From there, once we have an issue-free file in hand, your import should take no more than 2-4 business days to complete. If anything comes up that could extend that timeline, we'll keep you posted along the way.
Q: Can I send an Excel file instead of a CSV?
A: We prefer CSVs. Make sure your data is on a single tab, then "Save As" a CSV.
Q: What if I only need to add two or three people?
A: Use the standard Adding a New User flow — it's quicker for small numbers, and keeps Bulk Import available for larger batches.
Q: What if some of my data has errors?
A: Totally normal — we review every file and flag anything that needs fixing before we run the import. Ultimately, accuracy is something only you can provide, so please review your data carefiully before you submit it for import.
We're Here If You Need Us
Questions? Reach out to Support and we'll walk you through it.
Need a Sample? Please download the template below:
